The present invention relates generally to a unit and an electronic apparatus to which the unit is removably attached, and an ejector mechanism that loads the unit into and ejects the unit from the electronic apparatus. The present invention is suitable, for example, for a disc array storage that removably installs plural hard disc drive (“HDD”) units.
The disc array storage that removably installs one or more HDD units has been recently proposed as a fast, large-capacity and highly reliable external storage (see for example, Japanese Patent Application, Publication No. 2004-54967). The disc array storage allows only a HDD unit that requires maintenance, to be exchanged while keeping a running state of the entire apparatus.
FIG. 27 shows a conventional exemplary disc array storage 10 and HDD unit 20 attachable to it. Here, FIG. 12 is a schematic perspective view of the disc array storage 10 and the HDD unit 20. The disc array storage 10 arranges the HDD units 20 via a back panel 14 in front of a housing 12 indicated by an alternate long and two short dashes line, and an interface (I/F) unit 16 and a power supply unit 18 at its back. Since each HDD unit 20 is exchanged while the disc array storage 10 is mounted on a rack, each unit is configured to be inserted and ejected in an L direction.
Other prior art include Japanese Patent Application, Publication No. 5-259655.
Recently, as an amount of available information through the Internet increases, a large-capacity storage is required Therefore, the disc array storage 10 is requested to install more HDD units 20. Accordingly, the instant inventor has studied an increase of the number of rows of HDD units 20 in the L direction in FIG. 27.
Where two rows of HDD units 20 are installed, one conceivable method for loading the HDD units 20 into the inner row is that a user inserts the HDD units 20 inside the housing 12 through an opening of the housing 12. This method, however, requires the user to insert his hand deeply inside with bad operability, and the user's hand may be injured inside the housing 12. In addition, since the back panel 14 is provided on the rear surface side of the HDD unit 20, and one possible configuration of the two rows will be in order of the HDD unit 20, the back panel 14, the HDD unit 20 and the back panel 14. Therefore, the front back panel 14 prevents the insertion of the inner HDD unit 20 in the L direction.
The instant inventor then studied a method for inserting the front HDD units 20 in the L direction as conventional and for inserting the inner HDD units 20 from the top. This structure solves the above problem, but requires an electric connection/disconnection mechanism between the inner HDD unit 20 and the inner back panel 14. The HDD unit 20 has a connector at its rear surface, which is connectible to the back panel 14. Therefore the inner HDD unit 20 is inserted into the housing 12 from the top, and then moved in the L direction for the connector's connection. The connector's disconnection should be prior to the ejection of the inner HDD unit 20. Since it is difficult to keep a sufficient space for a user's finger in the accommodation space for the inner HDD unit 20 due to the miniaturization demand of the housing 12, the HDD unit 20 should possess the electric connection/disconnection mechanism for the connector. In addition, the uniform manufacturing is preferable, and thus the front HDD unit 20 and the inner AD unit 20 need to have the same ejector mechanism. Therefore, the mechanism for the inner HDD unit 20 should serve as the electric connection/disconnection mechanism for the connector of the front HDD unit. The ejector mechanism itself has preferably a simple structure.